Chapter Nine

Ayla

I couldn’t believe Jenna had done this. Even with Chloe rushing through the school to tear the pictures off the walls, I knew the damage was already done. And here I stood with Luke Pressler as he tried to comfort me.

“I’m never going to win this freaking election. I don’t know what I was thinking,” I said.

“Listen, you can’t give in just because Jenna put up a few pictures of you,” Luke said. “If you do, then she wins.”

“But she’s going to win anyway.”

“No, she isn’t. You told me that you wanted me to help you with the election, and I plan to.” His thumb brushed against my hand where he still held it. It sent tiny waves of heat through my whole body.

No. I was not going to react to Luke Pressler. No matter how freaking adorable he looked right now. The way his floppy blond hair fell across his forehead or how his muscles were evident even beneath his shirt. As I craned to look up at him, I swallowed hard. Nope. I wasn’t going to react at all to the fiery anger I saw in his eyes as he glanced at the posters Chloe was tossing in the trash. I didn’t have any idea why he’d be angry. He should be happy to see my fall from grace. To see me potentially lose the race. I mean, I’d totally be holding his social life prisoner for the next couple of weeks.

“Well, what should I do?” I peered up into those startling blue eyes. My stomach tingled and twisted. Maybe it was from the breakfast burrito I’d eaten this morning.

Or at least that’s what I told myself.

“Well, we could finish planning that photo booth we talked about yesterday. And do it at the football game this week. I’ll get with Mr. Fairchild for approval,” he said.

My eyes went immediately to his lips. Oh, God. I needed to look somewhere else. “Okay.”

He smiled. But Chloe interrupted. “Actually, if she wants to make posters of you, I can make a few of her. She doesn’t know who she’s messing with.”

“No. It’s fine. Besides, I don’t want to stoop to her level.”

“Ayla, do you want to tell me what the meaning of these posters is?” Mr. Fairchild came marching up to us.

“I didn’t hang them. Why don’t you ask Jenna Lee?”

“Jenna’s the one who said you were doing it as a publicity stunt. But you should know this is inappropriate.” He waved the Photoshopped, bikini-clad picture of me in my face.

“Do you honestly think I’d give myself a mustache and hang up negative stuff about myself?” What a prick.

“I do. I think this is about us not letting you do that article on the transgender bathrooms,” he said.

If Luke hadn’t jerked me closer to him, I might’ve actually punched Mr. Fairchild in his pasty-white face or ripped off his stupid toupee that looked like something my cat, Oscar, puked up.

“Mr. Fairchild, Ayla wouldn’t do something like this. She’s a really good student. Besides, she was with me last night and all morning. She didn’t have time to put anything like that up,” Luke said.

The principal glanced at him. “Are you sure, Luke? Or are you just covering for your girlfriend?”

“I’m sure, sir. You’ve known me and my family for a long time.”

He sighed. “Very well. Just don’t let this happen again.”

“We won’t. And while you’re here, sir, I wondered if I could get permission to set up a photo booth at the game Friday?”

“What’s the occasion?”

I glanced at Luke. Crap, if he knew it was to earn me votes, Mr. Fairchild would definitely say no. “We’re going to try to raise money to donate to the local food pantry,” I said. “And I’ll likely hand out a few pins for my campaign, that’s it.”

“The food pantry?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, but keep things tasteful,” he said. “I don’t want any inappropriate photos…”

From farther down the hall, I saw Jenna Lee standing and watching us. She smirked and waved at me.

Swallowing hard, I attempted to gain my composure. Luckily the bell rang, giving me an excuse to get away from the principal. Luke walked me to my locker.

“Mr. Fairchild’s a dick,” he said.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You’re such a caring person, Ayla.”

I rolled my eyes. “If this is fake boyfriend talk to make me feel better, it isn’t working.”

“No. I mean it. You came to my rescue today and didn’t have to. And you write articles that actually have meaning. You stand for something. That scares some people—like Jenna. She’s afraid people are going to finally see what a fraud she is compared to you.”

I stared at him as he stopped outside my class. Without even thinking about it, I reached up and gave him a hug. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.” He hugged me back. “See, if there’s one thing about the Pressler name, it’s that my family has connections. Or my dad does. Even if he isn’t around, people at least respect the last name.”

I nodded. It was nice to be standing here with him. Wrapped in his arms. For some reason, I felt safe with him. Like he’d be my shield against all things Jenna. Realizing the thoughts rolling through my head, I took a step back. “I’ll see you later.”

I rushed into class, Chloe on my heels. When we sat down, she turned to face me in her seat. “I’ll redo your posters later on, and I’ll make up a few for Jenna, too.”

“Chloe, no. I mean, you saw Mr. Fairchild freak out. Besides, I don’t want to be like Jenna.”

“I don’t care. Jenna had no right to do that to you. If she wants to be childish, then so can we.”

“Look, just let it go.” Because I knew if she did anything in retaliation, it’d only escalate things more.

“So, this thing with Luke is kind of interesting,” she said, smoothing some of her wispy blond hair from her face.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, today you guys actually looked like a real couple. He stood up for you with Fairchild, and he seemed genuinely ticked off about the posters. Are you sure there’s not something really going on with you two?” she whispered.

“I’m sure. You’ve seen him—do I look like his type? He’s just playing a part. A part I’m forcing him into,” I said, which gave me a great idea. With my phone out, I searched for the local florist. Nothing that a few flowers from Luke couldn’t fix. Okay, so I was sending myself flowers from Luke. But it would be romantic, and all the girls would see it.

She watched me a moment. “Okay, if you say so. Just be careful, Ayla. Boys like him can really hurt a girl.”

She was right, but I needed him to get through this election. And I knew now that he wasn’t always what he seemed to be at school. The real him was kind of different. Unless this was part of his act.

By lunch the flowers had been delivered to the office, and I made a big scene of carrying them to my locker. All the girls kept stopping me to look.

And Chloe had made new posters for me in art class. She used the same picture of me that she’d used the other day. It said above my head: “Don’t vote for something fake. Be real. Vote Ayla.”

“Those are awesome,” I said, sipping my chocolate milk.

“I’ll hang them up after play practice tonight. We really need to focus your campaign on you being real and wanting to deal with real things. Jenna only cares about the popular kids, so use that to your advantage.”

“You know, you’re pretty damn smart,” I said. As I shifted my gaze, I found Luke and Brady strutting into the library. I hadn’t even told him where I’d be today, yet here he was.

As if it was the most normal thing in the world, he sat down beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, much like he had yesterday. Everything inside me sizzled with heat.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. A few people made smart-assed comments, but other than that, nothing huge,” I said. “But the flowers you bought me really helped.”

“Yeah?” He quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Yes. They were perfect. I had to put them in my locker.” I showed him the receipt for the flowers.

“Well, I’m glad you like them.”

“That was really shitty of Jenna.” Brady stared between us for a second as he spread his lunch out in front of him, then said, “So, I talked to a few of the guys on the basketball team, and they agreed to help with the photo booth. They said they’d bring their jerseys for people to put on, too. We can set it up before the varsity football game. You’ll get a lot of people that way.”

“We should start advertising it now, maybe every day reveal one of the guys who’ll be participating,” Luke said. “And if you want, I have some connections on the girls’ volleyball team. I can see if they want in on it, too. That’ll get you some more of the jock vote anyway.”

I stared at him. Okay, he was being totally sweet and going out of his way to help me. “That would be great. Seriously, I don’t know how to thank you,” I said.

“You could come to the party I’m having this upcoming weekend,” Brady said. “There’ll be some guys from our basketball team there, and we’ll probably have a hayride along with a bonfire.”

My mouth fell open. Whoa, did I just get invited to a party? I glanced at Chloe. I didn’t want to leave her behind in all this, but fake or not, this was the first invite I’d ever gotten.

“Chloe could come, too.” Brady watched her as she twisted her hair up into a messy bun.

Did he like her? If so, that might be kind of cool for us to do double dates—well, if this were real and all.

“Sure, I could come. Do I need to bring anything? Or do I need a date?” Chloe turned to face him.

“You don’t have to bring anything or anyone. Just yourself.” Brady grinned, revealing a dimple in his cheek.

We spent the rest of the lunch hour going over my campaign. And with their help, I started to believe I might actually be able to pull this off. Or potentially make a giant-ass fool of myself.